


Ohana means family (and family means nobody gets left behind)

by NaraMerald



Series: Lilo & Stark [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Lilo & Stitch (2002), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Not Captain America Friendly, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, because Cap is a giant dickbag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 07:37:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13142055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaraMerald/pseuds/NaraMerald
Summary: Tony meets Lilo & Stitch.





	Ohana means family (and family means nobody gets left behind)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Legs Akimbo](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Legs+Akimbo).



> Merry Christmas Angela! 
> 
> Fuck Captain America.

It’s in the later stages of his recovery after Siberia that Tony gives up. Gives in. Flees the ghost memories around the Avengers compound and even Stark Tower, and bails. He can’t even look at Rhodey, he doesn’t dare face his best friend, now paralysed because of him. He can’t even help rebuilding efforts himself, too injured to be useful- he’s throwing his money around as usual, and part of him cringes at the parting shot Barton threw at him. He’s more than his money, he knows, but it burns nonetheless. 

Of course, there’s nowhere really that Tony Stark can hide, especially not in the US. But the weather is warm and mild and doesn’t make his fractured ribs (fractured everything) hurt, and no one expects to see the confident billionaire shuffling on a beach looking like an old man with war wounds. Well, he thinks to himself somewhat bitterly, war wounds is accurate… 

Hanapepe is a town on the quieter side. Tony has no illusions that they’re watching, and some might know who he is, but no reporters have shown up yet and if they know, they don’t seem to care. He’s not dared brave the surf alone- he can barely regain his footing on uneven sand without nearly whiting out from pain, but the ocean breeze seems to soothe the constant aches of his body and soul. At least; that is before he goes down. 

“STIIIIIIIITCHHHHHHH!” There’s a high-pitched call, then something plows into him. Shit! He’s teetering too far backwards. He’s off centre… tries to readjust… fails, and feels dull resignation and a sinking feeling- no, a literal falling feeling- as he goes over. He hits the ground with a grunt of pain, and for a second, he just lies there, staring into the blinding sun, cataloguing the damage. 

“LILO!” a woman shrieks in horror, but it’s of the embarrassed kind, not the life threatening kind. He doesn’t need to worry, or react instantly. Tony blinks as something blocks the sun out of his vision. As he adjusts, he sees it’s a little girl, eyes wide and curious, peering at him. She seems puzzled as to why he’s still on the ground. 

“Are you ok mister?” She asks him innocently. Tony tries to grin at her. 

“I don’t think he’s OK,” she stage whispers to someone. Tony’s guessing maybe his grin was more of a wince. Things are getting a bit blurry so he’s just going to keep on lying down here. Yes, lying here is a good idea. The middle of the road is not such a bad place to pass out. 

“Oh my god, Lilo…. Why can’t you and Stitch _look_ where you’re going?!” a woman cries. 

Truth be told, Tony doesn’t actually remember what happens next. 

~

When he wakes up, he immediately feels a rush of adrenaline and tenses despite the aches but… he’s in a kids’ bedroom. He feigns sleep, but there’s no security. A quick assessment shows he could break the window with ease. And he can hear… 

“Nani, I don’t know what to tell you… we don’t even know his name! And yes he’s injured... badly. But we can’t afford to pay for his medical bills. Admittedly half the town saw Lilo run smack bang into him...” 

“Look at him… I can’t exactly throw him out David! We can look after him until he gets better. Then he won’t need to go to the hospital. And those injuries… What if he’s in an abusive relationship?! He was wandering around town, quiet, hunched over… Old Ketia said he looked defeated. We can’t let him go back to that. We can help him. He can stay here, with us, and heal. It’s our fault he passed out, hopefully we can look out for him…” Nani’s voice trails off. Despite how inaccurate that is, Tony is touched. 

Assuming he hasn’t in fact been kidnapped again, (the smell of cinnamon cookies is a helpful suggestion of authenticity), Tony rolls over and freezes. The girl from earlier is sitting on a chair, staring at him with some concern. Yes, they all think he’s a poor, abused homeless man, but their level of care for a stranger is touching.

“Are you ok?” She asks again. 

Tony blinks. 

“Because Nani said if you died we’d have to run away and get fake names.” 

Tony blinks again. The little girl is awfully earnest, talking about his death even as she pushes her long black hair behind her ear. She’s endearingly honest. 

“I’m… I’m ok,” he says, voice hoarse. 

“Great. I’m Lilo!” she announces, holding out a hand for him. Tony musters his strength and manages to place his hand in hers. 

“I’m Tony,” he says. 

“Great! And this is Stitch!” she grins, and points and-WOAH

“WHAT?!” Tony yelps loudly, because that right there, that ain’t a dog. Tony’s seen aliens, and that (Stitch?!) is an alien for sure. Lilo is actually giving him spirit fingers. There’s an alien in the room, and she’s doing jazz hands for Tony. The alien – Stitch – seems to be posing with… sunglasses? 

Tony is starting to wonder if he does have some pretty serious injuries after all. Thudding noises alert him to the duo who must be Nani and David running up the stairs at the noise. 

“Lilo!” Nani groans in exasperation, and a tiny part of Tony processes that it looks like this situation is commonplace. Tony has not yet taken his eyes off of Stitch. 

“Stitch is my best buddy!” Lilo grins, and hugs the alien. It growls out “Family!”, even as Nani smacks her hands over her face and the man looks sheepish. 

“You don’t…” Tony begins, coughs, “You don’t seem concerned that your daughter is hugging an alien…” Tony flicks his eyes briefly to Nani. 

“Daugh- No, no no no. NO no no no. Lilo is my sister!” Nani looks about ready to have a breakdown. Tony has to wonder about her priorities – does she not see her little sister hugging an alien? To be fair, the alien - Stitch- is not doing any harm. He is wearing a fairly shit-eating grin though, and giving Tony thumbs up. 

David unfortunately decides to go with the “denial” route, and he is a truly terrible liar. 

“Alien?! Ha ha…” David laughs weakly, “Stitch is Lilo’s… dog….” David trails off. 

Tony just stares, eyebrow raised. It’s actually David’s shitty lying that convinces Tony that whatever Stitch is, he’s welcome. 

“See! See! Not all adults are blind!” Lilo cries at Nani, whose palm is meeting her face so regularly it may as well stay there. 

“Most people pretend he’s a dog,” Lilo tells Tony in a side whisper. Tony finds that… simultaneously unlikely (because he’s blue. How many blue dogs are out there?) but also eminently likely because humans have this need to fit the world into their understanding of it, regardless of how unrealistic that is. 

“Most people are stupid,” Tony mutters reflexively, and Stitch and Lilo both nod, the former exaggeratedly and the later solemnly. Nani winces a little and Tony grimaces. He’s not used to spending much time around children. Self-censor, engage! 

“So…” Tony casts around for a topic of discussion, “…do you like robots?” 

Lilo and Stitch’s eyes light up. 

“Robots?” Stitch says with an evil gleam in his eyes. 

“Coooooooooool,” Lilo whispers. 

Tony grins. 

“So… anyway, we wanted to invite you to stay with us, while you recover,” David forges on despite looking clearly apprehensive. Tony gets the feeling Lilo is a firecracker of a kid. He’d love to get to know her but… 

“I really think I’ll need to be going…” Tony demurs smoothly, because he can’t impinge on their hospitality. 

“What? No…” Lilo cries, disappointed. 

“What? No!” Nani cries, also disappointed. Tony really needs to explain this context. Nani clearly thinks he’s going back to someone who’s going to hurt him. (Jokes on them, Cap abandoned him as soon as he was no longer useful.) 

“Couldn’t you stay just a little longer?” David wheedles. Tony cracks and they see it. 

“Pleasssssssseeeee?” Lilo begs. She’s mastered the puppy dog eyes. 

“Pleasssssssseeeee?” Stitch begs, hands (claws?) clasped as if begging. 

Damn it all. He sees a flash of triumph over Nani’s face even as she turns to him. 

“Pleasssssssseeeee?” Nani turns to him. 

He looks to David in desperation. 

“One week?” David offers with a good-natured grin. Tony looks at Stitch, whose eyes are suspiciously liquid-y. He looks adorable. It’s always a problem when Tony starts finding aliens adorable. Even knowing Thor’s good natured puppy dog eyes, he can’t stand up to them. He melts. 

“Sure,” he says, “one week.” 

They cheer, they actually all cheer, and Nani and David dance around him as if they’re celebrating the fact that he’s agreed to stay. They’re happy, and they’re happy to spend time with him. They don’t even know he’s rich. It simultaneously makes him happy, and sad. He honestly can’t see the Avengers cheering about being able to spend time with him. Even before Steve- before he took a shield to Tony’s chest and left him to _die_ … 

“AH HA HA HA HA HA!” Tony blinks and is drawn out of his musing by Stitch laughing evilly. 

“Robots! AH HA HA HA!” Stitch grins at him. A little unsure, he looks to Nani and David, who just sigh in resignation. 

“Robots!” Lilo cheers. 

 

~ 

He builds her a robot. 

Stitch destroys it in under an hour. Tony reevaluates his idea of Stitch’s strength. 

Nani groans, David gives an endearing awkward shrug (and holy hell, how built is he? His chest could put Captain America to shame!) and Tony tries to shrug off the sudden feelings of sadness and betrayal at the thought of Steve. 

“Stitch is sorry?” Stitch tries. His eyes are wide and innocent and though he knows it’s a lie, Tony can’t help but melt. 

~ 

He builds her another robot. 

Lilo has put her foot down and Stitch is very careful this time. Sadly, Tony doesn’t think to warn Lilo that this robot isn’t waterproof. 

“He can’t go surfing?!” Lilo cries in dismay. Tony notices she is dripping. 

She and Stitch look awfully guilty… 

Nani and David drag the family out. Tony has another coconut juice from the restaurant and watches Lilo and the other dancers do the Hula. David’s skills with fire are nothing to scoff at. When the performance finishes, Nani, barely out of breath, sits down at his table, casts a warning eye at Stitch and gives him a grin that Tony can return without faking it. 

Nani seems amazed at Tony’s ability to repurpose scrap metal and old appliances. 

“I think he’s some kind of genius David! Did you see what he built from our old kettle? I can’t believe Lilo destroyed another one!” she groans. 

She feeds him more, porridges and curries with tropical fruits, and Tony is actually eating healthy, getting fresh air and banned from more than one cup of coffee per day. Isolated from the news as he is, it’s easy to feel like he’s actually on a vacation.   
He still moves a bit like an old man however, and David gives him some things, small things, to help carry at night; it takes Tony longer than it should have to ask “Wait, is this secret physical therapy?!” David’s bright red face indicates that yes, yes it is. Tony joins David officially and they do simple things like walking slowly through the water and carrying a litre of milk in each arm. David stops him from doing anything more. 

When he gets back one day, there’s another old kettle on the table. Lilo states up at him, eyes wide and innocent, and even though he knows it’s a lie, Tony can’t help but melt. 

…

He builds them another robot. 

He can’t make it waterproof, not without his workshop, but when he gets home, he’ll send one. Speaking of, after significant begging, he agrees to stay just a few more days. He texts Pepper and she rings him immediately; probably to make sure he’s not kidnapped. She sounds incredulous, but her questions subside, he suspects after she hears his genuine affection for the Pelekai family. There’s warmth in her voice, relief, and for a second, Tony forgets all his baggage. But then he asks after Rhodey. His voice is quiet, and so is the answer. He’s making progress, Tony should ring him, she says. Tony doesn’t know if Rhodey would ever want to see him again, and remains quiet, staring at his phone long after he’s hung up the call. 

He’s only interrupted by Lilo who takes one look at him, and tells him imperiously he has to be the judge for her and Stitch. The latest robot is a hit. Stitch and Lilo pretend to battle this one, and it’s an epic battle. Stalwart defenders Stitch and Detective Pelekai save cities from Mr Evil Robot, defeating it resoundingly. Tony can’t help but remember Ultron, just one of his many mistakes, and something must show on his face. 

“You look sad,” Lilo says to him. Tony suddenly realizes the “battle” noises have gone silent and both Lilo and Stitch are beside him, looking at him awfully closely. 

“I made a mistake…” Tony admits, although this could be the understatement of the year. 

“We’ve made LOTS of mistakes!” Lilo announces earnestly, with Stitch nodding along. “Nani says if you make a mistake, you apologise…” here Lilo pauses, clearly struggling to remember, “…learn from it, and move on…” 

Move on… He sighs internally. Tony is trying to move on. He’s trying. 

Tony doesn’t spend much time around kids, it’s true, but he doesn’t usually underestimate them like some other adults can. Lilo is adept at reading a room, when she wants to. She determinedly picks up a doll, announces it to be “Evil modeling work Barbie” and has it fight the robot. This time, the robot is the winner, and the good guy. 

“Robots aren’t evil all the time,” she says matter of factly. Tony sighs, thinking of Jarvis, thinking of Ultron, thinking of Vision. Lilo taps him on the knee, insistently getting his attention back. 

“Nani also says these body portions are unweal-unrealistic,” Lilo confides in him, as Barbie, voiced by Stitch, devolves into a wail of unintelligible despair at losing. It’s admittedly hard to focus on anything else when Stitch-Barbie is screaming in garbled tones of rage. Large chunks of her hair are somehow missing. (Shit gets real when kids play Barbie, Tony thinks. It’s brutal.) 

They have an afternoon of Elvis (Stitch does a fairly good impersonation, Tony has to admit) and then it’s time to pack up. Lilo and Stitch stare at the Barbie and the robot consideringly, then turn to Tony. Their eyes are wide and innocent and even though he knows it’s a lie, Tony can’t help but melt. 

… 

He builds them another robot. 

He expects it to be an epic battle, but instead the robots go on a bucket list vacation. Tony’s not sure they quite understand the concept of a bucket list, but cheers them on fondly nonetheless. 

“Do you know ‘Ohana’, Tony?” Stitch asks him one day, when Nani and Lilo are at Hula practice. Stitch and Tony are on the porch with David, sipping tropical juice mocktails, all three of them with the most ridiculous pairs of sunglasses on. Tony hasn’t worn such cheap, shitty glasses for years. He can barely see out of them, between the bad tint job and the scratches, but they look super cool. He loves them. 

“Ohana…?” Tony asks, lazily. This town, this breeze, this _family_ , has slipped inside him, even if temporarily, given him peace.   
“Ohana means family,” David explains peacefully, looking over at him, and yes, Tony can see they live by this philosophy. Wherever he came from, Stitch is definitely family to them. 

“Family means _nobody gets left behind_ ,” Stitch says, and just like the illusion of peace shatters into painful shards. He feels his chest ache fiercely, a psychological and physical response. Nobody gets left behind… well Tony did, literally. They left him because they hadn’t bothered reading the accords. They left him behind to flee Liepzig, Steve betrayed him, all this time, then left him behind for dead in Siberia. He shivers, remembering the cold even in the warmth of Hanapepe. 

“You were left behind,” Stitch says, surprisingly astutely, watching the tension in Tony’s body language. Tony nods briefly, lips pressed together thinly, hands balled into fists. Yes, Tony was left behind. 

“They were not family then,” David says firmly, earnestly, looking at Tony. Tony looks back, surprised at the bluntness of the statement. 

“Not family,” Stitch agrees. 

Not family. It’s a concept Tony hasn’t began to come at, but he immediately sees the truth of it; they weren’t family. 

“Stitch is right. _Definitely_ not family if they make you feel like that!” Lilo announces from behind the door, and everyone has a heart attack. 

“Lilo! Where did you come from?!” David yelps. 

“Nani & I got home two minutes ago!” Lilo grins and Nani, clearly also listening in, leans out from behind Lilo behind the door, waving sheepishly. 

“Not family,” Tony muses slowly. Nani comes out, joins them on the porch. Those times Steve judged him, didn’t bother to understand him, gave him temporary camaraderie but not trust… not family. The times Natasha manipulated him, turned on him, gave him crumbs and wanted him to beg for more… not family. Sam and Scott throwing over everything they had, all common sense and reason because Captain America said so? Not family. Barton who wanted him to splash the cash but wasn’t willing to get to know the real Tony? Not family. Maximoff? Never family. 

“So… who are your family?” Lilo asks him, and Tony doesn’t need to think. _Rhodey._ Rhodey’s always been there, every scrape, every mess since college. He’s talked Tony into, and out of (mostly out of) so many bad decisions. He’s had his back, he was there, when he needed him. He likes Tony. He looked for Tony. _Pepper._ Pep who took on the CEO position of Stark Industries at his request, who supported him even when they decided to take a break. Who worked with Friday to locate and rescue him from Siberia, even though he knows she wants to strangle him some days. _Happy._ His chauffeur, body guard and trainer, a loyal, stalwart supporter. _Vision_ , who came from the misery of Ultron, but became a voice of reason and a defender of justice. _Peter_ , whose innocence is paralleled only by his passion and determination to protect. Who’d looked at Tony like he was some kind of hero, and stood by him, even when Captain America turned his back on Tony. 

Tony smiles unconsciously, before grinning at Lilo. He thinks maybe the Pelekais, who know Tony, but not Tony Stark, might be family. Maybe. 

“Thanks kid,” he says without answering, because he doesn’t think she really wants to know- not so much as she wants to remind him that he has people. They finish their mocktails, (because Nani wants to be the best possible role model for Lilo and rarely drinks, Tony wishes quietly in a corner of his mind that he’d had an older sibling like Nani) and Tony sends Pepper a message. 

It’s time he thinks, time to go home. It’s not quite a tearful last night- he reassures them he’s going to his real family, not the “bad ones”, to Nani’s relief and Lilo & Stitch’s approval. He promises to visit them, but more than that, he makes them promise to visit him. (Nani, a little concerned, probably about money but caves to Lilo & Stitch’s puppy eyes just like Tony had.) They’ll get the surprise of a lifetime when Tony flies them to Malibu and Manhattan. He’s got plans. He’s going to show them everything. 

But now it’s long overdue for him to depart. Waving goodbye is difficult, a little piece of paradise, disappearing in the rearview mirror of the taxi but he’s already turning over the ideas for Rhodey’s leg braces in his head. 

Tony Stark’s going back to his family.

**Author's Note:**

> Wait 'til Lilo & Stitch meet Captain America. Shit's goin' down.


End file.
